Furnace for bimetallic castings



June 13, 1950 s. KAM. 2,511,068

FURNACE FOR BIMETALLIC CASTINGS Filed July 10, 1945 A TTOR/VEYJ PatentedJune 13, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1 Claim.

This invention relates to apparatus for founding non-ferrous metals andpertains more specifically to a furnace designed primarily for theproduction of bimetallic castings such vas railway journal bearings.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide a furnace having aplurality of plate-like members embodied therein as a structural partthereof, the members being constructed to support the backing piece forthe bimetallic casting formed thereon and to constitute With the backingpiece a cover for the furnace combustion chamber when arranged inoperative position thereon.

Another object of the invention is to construct a mold and heating unittherefor which will accommodate the casting operation with safety anddispatch.

Another object of the invention is to provide a combustion chamber whichwill effectively preheat the backing pieces prior to the time they reachthe pouring or casting station of the furnace.

Other objects and advantages more or less ancillary to the foregoing andthe manner in which all the various objects are realized will appear inthe following description, which considered in connection with theaccompanying drawings, sets forth the preferred embodiment of theinvention.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the furnace with one of the molds and afragmentary portion of the successive mold shown in place thereon;

Fig. 2 is a sectional perspective View of the furnace and mold, thesection being taken on a plane indicated by the line 2 2 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a View in perspective of a composite bearing typical of one ofthe forms of bimetallic castings that may be formed in the improvedfurnace and mold combination;

Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view through the central portion of themold and core, the section being taken on a plane indicated by the line4-4 in Fig. l; and

Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional view of the roller supporting structure.

As will be seen in Figs. 1 and 2, the base of the furnace comprisesgenerally a floor II, side Walls I2 and i3 dening a trough I4, ledges I5disposed in a common plane in the upper portions of the side walls, andvertical Webs I6 extending upwardly from the inner marginal edges of theledges. The base of the furnace is preferably constructed from re brickthough a structural iron frame having heat resisting ceramic linerstherein could obviously be used in substitution therefor. The ledges I5are provided with channels I'I drilled to accommodate the pivotalsupport of rollers I8 disposed for engagement with and serving aslateral guide means for the depending side walls I9 of a series ofplate-like members 2D bridging the top of the furnace. Guide means areprovided for support of members 2!) in a horizontal plane. In thepreferred construction each channel I'I is fabricated with upturnedflanges thereon which are drilled to receive the spindles of rollers 2Idisposed for engagement with the lower face of the flanged portions 22of the `plate-like members 2li. The trough I4 is provided with a heaterwhich, as illustrated herein, comprises a series of jets or burners 24coupled with a fuel line 25 fed through a mixing valve connected in theusual manner with an air line 26 and oil supply pipe 21.

The top of the furnace trough I4 is normally closed by the plate-likemembers 2l! which are formed with square end portions 23 adapted forintimate engagement with like faces on the molds adjacent thereto. Theplate-like members are formed with openings 29 extending through thebody thereof for the reception of the backing piece of the compositebearing to be cast. In the mold for the railroad journal bearing (Fig.3) chosen herein as merely illustrative of one of the forms of compositebearings that may be cast in the apparatus embodying the presentinvention, the opening 29 is configured to accommodate exposure of themajor portion of the shell or backing piece 3f! to the burners 2li, theside walls defining the opening being further formed to provide ledgesto support the flanged side walls 3l of the steel backing piece 3U. Ateach end of apertures 29 the upper face of the plate-like member isformed with concavities or recesses 33 for the reception of core prints34 formed in a core 35 provided to define with the backing piece 30 thecavity for the bearing metal 35 shown in Fig. 2.

The plate-like members are formed of a suitable refractory material suchas graphite carbon or may be made from a chrome nickel steel alloy, thestructural design thereof save for Wall thicknesses being the same ineither case.

In operation the plate-like members are placed in end to end relationupon the rollers ZI, With the metal backing pieces 30 and cores 35assembled therein. The line of plate-like members is then moved alongthe furnace at a rate of speed, consonate with the intensity of theheating medium, which will bring the successive platelike members to thedesired temperature when they reach the forming station which, asindicated by the character A in Fig. 1 is adjacent the last burner 24 inthe trough I4. As the platelike members pass the station A the bronze orthe bearing metal is poured in the cavity dcned by one side of thebacking piece 30 and the core. The plate-like .member is then passedforward to a conveyor (not shown) of any conventional type until themolten bearing metal thereon becomes solidied. If desired, the conveyormaybe arranged in circular or oval form to provide a continuous path sothat the plate-like members may be unloaded, recharged and moved, Whilestill hot in an unbroken series to the heater trough.

It will be readily recognized that many other non-ferrous metals may beadvantageously and economically cast in the apparatus described above,and that the term bi-metallic casting as ing caps constituting theproduct of the novel furnace herein described are merely representativeof the many forms of bonded oi-metallic castings which may be produced.

By coating the steel backing piece with a suitable parting material,integral brass or bronze pieces may be cast on the furnace as described.Thus the utility, economy, and scope of operations are greatly enhanced,and the superior products obtained by this method of casting are madeavailable With low cost equipment.

Although the foregoing description is necessarily .of a detailedcharacter, in order that the invention may be completely set forth, itis to be understood that the specific terminology is not intended to berestrictive or conning, and that various rearrangements of parts andmodications of detail may be resorted to Without departing from thescope or spirit of the invention as herein claimed.

I claim:

Apparatus for preheating backing pieces for bimetallic castingscomprising a furnace having a bottom and side Walls defining anelongated trough, burners disposed along said trough, guide means alongeach side of and parallel to said trough, a series 0f plate-like membersmounted on said guide means for translation along said trough saidmembers bridging said trough and being disposed above said burners, saidmembers having formed therein and extending vertically therethroughgenerally rectangular apertures,

Vledge means at each side of said apertures for supporting a flangedbacking member, said members having concavities. at each end of the apertures therein to form core end supports, said members includingend-to-end engaging means for deflecting gases tending to emerge frombetween the ends of the members.

SIMON KAIL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le ofthis patent:

UNTED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 502,593 Standish Aug. 1, 18931,144,002 Sacerdote June 22, 1915 1,333,337 Pack et al Mar. 9, 19201,873,239 Woodson Aug. 23, 1932 1,943,351 Stockleth et al. Jan. 16, 19342,203,679 Edwards June l1, 1940 2,214,235 Ragan Sept. 10, 1940 2,253,526Medsker Aug. 26, 1941

